


People Have Too Many Shades of Grey, Monsters are Easy

by jujitsuelf



Category: Stargate Atlantis, Supernatural, The Losers (2010), The Losers (Comic), The Losers - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Crossover, F/M, Hunting, M/M, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-15
Updated: 2013-09-15
Packaged: 2017-12-26 15:17:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/967485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jujitsuelf/pseuds/jujitsuelf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when a soldier, a pilot and two hunters walk into a bar?</p>
            </blockquote>





	People Have Too Many Shades of Grey, Monsters are Easy

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer – All publicly recognizable characters, settings etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended
> 
> ****
> 
> This is set long before John Sheppard even hears about the Stargate, back when he's just a pilot and he's still married to Nancy. He's never seen a Wraith, so what he comes across in the bar freaks the hell out of him.
> 
> Cougar and the Losers haven't had any dealings with Max, they're just Spec Ops guys, doing whatever Spec Ops guys do.
> 
> Sam and Dean, well, they're Sam and Dean. I think this would probably be some time during the period after Dean gets Sam from Stanford but before they kill old Yellow Eyes.
> 
> ****
> 
> Thank you to 3White_Mage3 for the brilliant beta work. Also thank you to peaceful_sands and cougar's_catnip.

The bartender was one of those women who eyed a man as though he was lunch, Cougar decided. Not that he considered that to be a bad thing. Generally, taking what you wanted was the best way to go through life. He thought of Jensen and grimaced. There was something he should have taken months ago, but he still couldn’t quite summon up the courage to make a move.

Nodding at the bartender, he scooped up his beer and ambled over to a corner table. Sitting with his back to the wall was second nature now, he hated the exposed feeling which came with not knowing what was behind him.

It was a quiet little bar, hidden away on the edge of town, almost out in the sticks. Just another watering hole, generic and soulless. Cougar sipped at his drink, watching the other patrons and wondering why they’d chosen to make the journey out there when there were other bars closer to the action in town.

Everyone there, aside from Cougar, seemed to know everyone else. The quiet hum of conversation which filled the room wasn’t that of people getting to know each other for the first time. Cougar noticed a few glances being thrown his way. He ignored them, nobody had any business with him and he didn’t feel like talking.

He ran a finger around the rim of his beer bottle thoughtfully. He really should have asked Jensen to come along. But leave was a precious thing and Cougar felt like he’d have been putting Jake in an impossible position if he blurted out, “Wanna come to New Mexico and meet my folks rather than going to see your sister?” He shook his head, no, it was better this way. Jensen was up in New Hampshire and he was safely here, with his family.

It was all well and good coming home, he mused, but after a day or two he simply ran out of things to say. He was the only one in his entire family who’d joined the military and nobody else really seemed to be very interested in it. Plus there was the thorny issue of the fact that he couldn’t tell them certain things, what with most of the jobs he found himself doing being classified and all.

So he had to make do with half-truths and vague stories and avoid any details of his missions at all. The one thing he could talk about was his team, so he told tales of Pooch’s mechanical brilliance, Clay’s terrible taste in women and Roque’s despair thereof. And Jensen, there were plenty of stories about Jensen. His mother had taken to smiling at him gently when he started telling yet another tale about Jake, he fully expected her to ask whether he had a crush on him before his leave was over. It wasn’t something Cougar wanted to think about, so he took another pull of beer.

After a few days of sleeping in his childhood bedroom and marveling at how small the bed really was, he’d needed some space. That was really the only reason he’d wandered to this bar, he certainly hadn’t come for the decor or the beer, which was really kind of crap. He leaned back in his chair and sighed.

****

John stopped the car and rubbed at his aching eyes. The sun was starting to set, the horizon was already ablaze with the kind of deep red which spoke of another glorious day tomorrow. He’d been driving nearly all day, not really sure where he was going or why but just desperate to get away from the fuck-up which was his marriage.

Two weeks of leave was a great thing but having the fight to end all fights with Nancy on the first night had been stupid. Storming out of the house and driving all night, trying to escape the voice in his head which told him to just ask for a divorce and be done with it, had been equally dumb. Getting himself lost and accidentally ending up in New Mexico had been idiotic.

He rested his forehead on the steering wheel. Idiot. Yeah, that summed him up pretty well, Mensa candidate or not. Clever with numbers and aircraft, crap with people. Maybe that was why he liked flying, there weren’t many people at thirty thousand feet.

Looking up, he saw that he’d somehow pulled up outside a small bar. He smiled, just a quick, unamused twist of his mouth. Why not? Surely a beer couldn’t make things any worse, could it?

****

The door opened and a tall, dark haired man walked in. Cougar watched as he made his way over to the bar. Something about the way he moved, or maybe it was the way he glanced around, obviously checking the exits, made Cougar wonder whether perhaps he was military too. The guy’s hair stuck up in all directions, Cougar was painfully reminded of Jensen. His blond hair seemed to have a life of its own, too. Then again, maybe the amount of gel Jake plastered on it had something to do with its waywardness.

Long experience of meeting other military guys in bars made Cougar keep his eyes on his beer as the other man found a table and sat down. If the guy wanted to talk, he’d come over or acknowledge him in some way. Assuming of course that he was military and noticed that Cougar was too.

Until then, Cougar was perfectly happy with his own company. It was a relief to be away from his mother and siblings. All their chatter had given him a headache which was only just beginning to fade.

The more beer he drank, the less offensive it tasted, maybe the flavor just took some getting used to. He hid a smile as the dark haired guy took a pull at his drink and made a face.

****

John didn’t mind drinking alone. It was easier than having to make awkward small talk. He even had to make awkward small talk with Nancy and she was his _wife_ , dammit. He rubbed his eyes again, they felt like they had grit in them. Maybe he should do something about finding somewhere to sleep sometime soon.

Feeling someone’s eyes on him, John looked up just in time to see a guy in the corner glancing away. He had long, dark hair, hidden under a battered cowboy hat. John drank more of his beer. If people wanted to stare, let ‘em. He was used to it. His looks and mad hair made him stand out, he’d known that for years. It wasn’t as though he’d asked to be good-looking, but people stared, just the same. Did it make him conceited that he almost liked it by now?

The long haired guy looked at him again. John caught his gaze this time, looking steadily back. Something about the sharp focus in the man’s eyes made John wonder whether he’d spent very much time looking through a scope. In the past he’d known snipers who had a thousand yard stare and this guy had the same kind of thing going on.

He considered nodding or acknowledging the man in some way, then decided against it. He hadn’t come to make friends. All he wanted was a quick beer, a bed for the night and a route back to Nancy in the morning. Maybe he should find a mall and buy her something expensive as an apology. Yeah, that was a good idea. Women liked shiny things, didn’t they?

****

The door banged open again and two young men walked in. Both tall and straight-backed, they radiated confidence. Cougar shifted on his chair, suddenly acutely aware that all conversation had ceased.

One of the men, slightly shorter than the other but more stockily built, walked over to his table and pulled out a chair. Grinning at him, the guy said, “Closing time, pal.” He glanced at the wild-haired guy on the other side of the room. “You too, dude, let’s go.”

Cougar frowned and leaned back in his chair. “You own this place?”

“Nope,” the young man replied. “Just giving you some friendly advice.”

“Hey,” snapped the bartender. “Get the hell out of my bar.”

“Should we, Dean?” The taller man looked at the other in mock-concern. “Are we disturbing these good people?”

“Don’t worry about it, Sammy,” Dean said softly. “There’s no good people in here tonight. Save for these two gentlemen, of course.” He planted both palms on the tabletop, staring at Cougar. “Get up and get out, right now,” he muttered. “Otherwise you’ll be dead in minutes.”

Cougar’s heart rate speeded up a notch. Damn, why didn’t he have a gun on him? All he had was the knife he always carried in his boot.

“Think I’m fine here,” he replied quietly. The dark-haired man’s eyes met his over Dean’s shoulder. He gave a tiny nod. Cougar tensed. Military then, ready for a fight. Cougar looked back at Dean again and smiled. “Fuck you.”

Dean laughed. “Hey, your funeral, pal.” He turned and spoke to the other man. “You staying too? Or do you have a brain?”

“Think I’ll stick around,” the crazy-haired man said. Looking around Dean, he nodded to Cougar. “I’m John, by the way.”

“Cougar,” Cougar nodded in return.

“Army?” John asked.

Cougar nodded again. “Marines?”

“Air Force,” John grinned, knocking back the rest of his beer.

“Cool,” Cougar smiled.

“When you’re done with the military reunion, can we get down to business here?” Dean asked, sounding exasperated.

“Just what I was thinking,” the bartender snarled, suddenly launching herself over the bar, directly at Dean. Sam, the taller guy, moved with a speed Cougar never would have believed if he hadn’t seen it. A blade flashed in his hand and the bartender’s head rolled into a corner of the room.

“What the fuck...” Cougar flung himself out of his seat, gazing at the severed head in horror. John had done the same thing, but still had his beer clutched in his hand. He took a hurried gulp and turned wide eyes on Cougar.

Before Cougar could say anything more, one of the guys who’d been quietly drinking at one of the other tables jumped up and ran straight at Sam, spitting abuse. As he watched the man’s teeth seemed to do something really weird, suddenly there were sharp fangs where there shouldn’t be fangs. Sam’s hand moved again, the machete in it scraping the guy’s ear. Laughing, the fang-man dropped into a low crouch and circled Sam, his tongue flicking out to run over his bizarre teeth.

“What in the hell..?” John began, but another guy threw himself at him before he could finish.

“Duck!” Dean yelled. John did as he was told. The snarling man missed him and spat a curse. Dean ran, swung another long blade, and the man’s head flew across the room.

Cougar couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Was this some kind of fucked up gang war thing? Or were Dean and Sam just crazed serial killers? And what the fuck was with the fangs? And the beheading? Before his horrified brain could come up with any kind of answers, a slim woman darted toward him, her mouth wide open, fangs gleaming in the lamplight.

Cougar was a fast guy, he knew it. He lived up to his namesake in speed and agility most of the time, he could easily sidestep a woman, right? The girl caught him around the waist a split second before he moved. How the fuck had she done that? A moment ago she’d been ten feet from him, now she had her arms wrapped around his waist and was rolling on top of him, trying to pin him to the floor.

Spitting out a curse of his own, Cougar tried to shove her off. God, what the hell? She didn’t even budge. Her hands wrapped around his wrists and effortlessly held them flat to the floor. Try as he might, he couldn’t wriggle free or buck her off. This was seriously fucked up, he could beat Jensen in a no-holds-barred wrestling match and the guy had twenty pounds on him at least. This girl was a strip of wind but no amount of fighting on Cougar’s part could shift her.

To his eternal disgust, she leaned in close and licked a long wet stripe up his neck. “Hmm, you smell good,” she purred in his ear. “Hope you taste good, too.”

She lowered her mouth to his neck again and bit. Cougar yelled as sharp teeth lanced straight through his skin and blood began to flow alarmingly fast. Using every dirty fighting technique he’d ever learned, he tried to wriggle free but she just sat on his hips and held his wrists, all the time lapping at the blood running down his neck.

There was a dull ‘thunk’. The girl stopped sucking at the wound and went rigid, then toppled off of him. Her head bounced free when she hit the wooden floor, rolling a few feet like some grotesque parody of a bowling ball.

Cougar stared up at Dean, panting and shaking with fear he’d never known existed before.

“You okay?” Dean asked, flicking blood off the blade in his hand.

“Yeah.” Cougar was amazed at how matter of fact he sounded. He grasped the hand Dean extended and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. He wanted to ask what was happening, what in the name of God was wrong with the people attacking them for no good reason, just how in the hell Dean and Sam had shown up with machetes at just the right moment. But his mouth wasn’t working. Dimly, he touched his neck, his hand came away bright red. Huh, guess that was his own blood then.

“Hey, dude, don’t faint on me, okay?” Dean said, looking concerned.

Cougar nodded slowly. Dean grinned. “Vampires, sneaky little bastards.”

“Vampires,” Cougar echoed. Of course, why not?

****

John backed into a corner. Another man with those freakily long teeth was stalking toward him, a smile on his face.

His back hit the wall, damn, where the hell else was he supposed to go? The guy kept coming, still smiling that terrifying grin.

John clenched his fists. Whatever these freaks were on, they could still be hurt, apparently. He stepped forward and slammed his fist into the guy’s nose.

“Fuck!” It was like hitting concrete. Cradling his hand, John backed up again, wondering whether this was how he died, in a New Mexico bar surrounded by people wearing Halloween vampire fangs.

Suddenly the guy stopped, looking slightly surprised. Slowly, like an old, dead tree finally giving up the ghost, he crumpled to the floor. His head bounced a few feet along the dirty floorboards.

John looked up from the gory mess at his feet, into Sam’s concerned eyes.

“You all right?”

John blinked. Was he all right? What kind of question was that? He was surrounded by crazy people with fangs which looked freakishly real and now there were two guys waving machetes around. A sudden fondness for his own head hit him, it was time to cut his losses and get the hell out of Dodge.

But as much as his brain told his legs to move, they wouldn’t. He’d heard the phrase ‘frozen in fear’ before but never in his life had he imagined it could happen to him. He’d seen combat, for God’s sake. Blood and gore wasn’t a new thing, medics had put guys back together in his helicopter as he flew them to hospital. He’d killed people before, watched them die in front of him but this...this was a little too weird even for him.

“Gimme a knife,” he almost jumped at the sound of his own voice.

Behind Sam, Dean was decapitating another of the freaks.

Cougar looked as shell shocked as John felt. Their eyes met and some kind of understanding passed between them. Pushing himself away from the wall, Cougar tapped Dean on the shoulder.

“Knife.”

Dean grinned and slid another blade from his belt, flipping it to hold out the handle to Cougar.

Sam did the same, handing the blade to John with worry still plain in his gaze. “Seriously, are you okay?”

“I’m watching people take other people’s heads off,” John said, as snappishly as he could manage in his unbreakable drawl. Damn, he’d perfected it so much he couldn’t shake it now. “I’ll tell you how I am later.”

“Good enough,” Sam said, flicking blood off his machete. There was a lot of banging and loud voices out front of the bar. “Reinforcements,” Sam continued. “Taking their heads off is the only way to kill ‘em.”

“To kill what?” John demanded.

Sam smiled, swift and sad. “Vampires.”

****

It was definitely the most bizarre combat Cougar had ever been in. The vampires seemed to be so fixated on biting the four of them, they kind of forgot to guard against any form of retaliatory action.

By the time they were the only ones in the bar still breathing, Cougar had taken the heads off of three people he’d never seen before in his life. Over in the other corner, he’d seen John kill at least two and fight off a third before Sam killed it. Dean happily swept his blade around, parting heads from bodies with a kind of single minded enthusiasm which made Cougar think he’d have made a pretty good soldier.

As with most fights, it was over in minutes but the adrenaline took longer to begin to wear off. Cougar came back to himself standing over a slim woman. Her head was beside her on the floor and blood was beginning to pool around his boots.

“Nice job,” Dean said casually, as though he did this kind of thing everyday. Maybe he did. “You’re not a bad fighter, you ever kill anything before?”

Cougar looked at him.

“Right,” Dean smiled. “Army, I forgot. Our dad was a Marine in ‘Nam.”

Cougar nodded, he had no fucking clue what the hell to say. John saved him.

“Look, you guys wanna tell us what the fuck we just helped you do?”

“You killed vamps,” Dean said, swift and harsh. “They had it coming. Don’t lose any sleep over it.”

“Vampires,” Cougar said slowly, still unable to believe that grown men were saying the word with such apparent sincerity. “There’s no such thing.”

Sam smiled wryly, “I hate to be the one to break it to you...”

“These ain’t Halloween masks,” Dean cut in brutally. Stooping, he picked up a severed head and dropped it on a nearby table. “See that?” Lifting the dead man’s lip, he pointed at a wickedly sharp set of teeth which appeared to have descended over the top of his normal set. The fangs Cougar had seen before were there, they looked nauseatingly sharp.

Glancing up at Dean, Cougar saw that he was watching both him and John, obviously waiting for a reaction.

“Real?” Cougar asked.

“Real,” Dean agreed firmly.

“Holy shit,” John said.

“Yeah,” Sam sighed. “Look, we need to get out of here before anyone else shows up. I doubt this was the whole nest, when these guys don’t go home they’ll send more to look for them.”

Dean nodded and wiped his machete on a dead man’s shirt. “Yep, time to go. Nice meeting you guys.”

“Hold on,” John held out a hand. “You can’t just go. These are _vampires_ , for God’s sake. What the fuck? Last time I checked, vampires were just scary bedtime stories, not real things in bars in New Mexico. How did you know they were here? If you hadn’t shown up, would Cougar and I have been on the menu?”

Cougar touched the wound on his neck. “Am I...”

Sam broke in, “No, you’re not a vamp now. Just being bitten by one won’t turn you. You’re still one hundred percent human.”

“Right.” Cougar swallowed, abruptly relieved to hear that he wasn’t about to change into some be-fanged bloodsucker. That’d be awkward to explain to Clay. Jensen would probably think it was cool though. Kid was nuts.

“We really do have to get out of here. We have a med kit in the car, that bite needs cleaning up.” Dean grabbed an abandoned bottle of beer and drained it. “But I’m hungry, how about we find some dinner and we’ll explain how we came to save your asses just in time?”

“Dean,” Sam said wearily.

“What?” Dean smirked, “Come on, Sammy, we’re like the freakin’ Lone Ranger and Tonto.”

Sam raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, maybe more like Ghostbusters but hey, principle’s the same.”

He turned and walked out of the bar, stepping over bodies as though they were just trash on the floor. Sam shook his head, smiled at Cougar and John apologetically and followed him.

Cougar looked at John.

“I have no idea,” John shrugged helplessly. “I’m only here because I had a fight with my wife.”

Cougar nodded as though he understood. He and Jensen didn’t fight, not that they were a real couple of course, except in Cougar’s daydreams. All the same, the lack of bitching at one another and real arguments had to be a good sign, right?

He looked around the ruined bar. “Vampires,” he said again, the word still unfamiliar on his tongue. “I don’t believe it.” With a shake of his head, he made his way to the door.

“You on leave?” John asked sympathetically as they stepped carefully over bodies and around pools of blood.

“Yeah,” Cougar grunted. “Needed a drink.”

John laughed, slow and lazy. “Me too, guess we got something else, huh?”

“Fucking vampires,” Cougar said bitterly. Only he could end up with his leave ruined by _vampires_. Even Jake would have a hard time topping this. Although he’d probably love the story. Not that Cougar planned on telling anyone because, well, _vampires_.

“C’mon, med kit over here, soldier,” Dean called, standing beside a sweet Chevy Impala. “And I know a good little diner not far from here. No vamps, I guarantee it.”

Cougar glanced at John again. John lifted a shoulder.

“We’ve beheaded people already tonight, what are the odds of it happening again?”

Cougar nodded, good point.

****

Dean stopped in the parking lot of a tiny diner a few miles up the road. John slid his car into the space beside the Impala and waited as Cougar maneuvered his Ducati to a purring stop.

“Nice bike,” John said appreciatively.

Cougar grinned.

“Not bad,” Dean said, looking at the Ducati’s gleaming red bodywork. He turned and ran a loving hand along the Impala’s hood. “Mine’s better.”

Cougar snorted.

Laughing, Dean led the way into the diner. Once they were safely at a table and their food was on the way, John was amazed by how hungry he suddenly was, Dean leaned back in his chair and stared at him and Cougar.

“Look, I know you’ve probably got a ton of questions but if you can, it’s better to just let this go and walk away.”

“Let it go?” John frowned. “I just found out _vampires_...” he lowered his voice to a hoarse whisper, aware of the waitress’ eyes on their table. “...vampires are real and like to hang out in bars. What the hell?”

Cougar chimed in, “And who are you? How come you knew what to do? How did you know they were...what they were?”

“We’re hunters,” Sam said softly, looking at the table. “We do this all the time.”

“Do what, exactly?” John asked. “Go around saving unknowing idiots from being sucked dry?”

“Something like that,” Sam replied.

“It’s our job,” Dean said bluntly. “We save people, hunt things. Freaky things, stuff you don’t even want to know about.”

“What kind of stuff?” Cougar spoke quietly, his eyes on Dean.

“Stuff you don’t want to know about,” Dean repeated. “Trust me, you’ll sleep better if you don’t know what we hunt.”

John suspected the younger man was right but he couldn’t help his curiosity. “Try us.”

****

Two hours, countless cups of coffee and two double double cheeseburgers with extra onions for Dean later, John looked at Cougar and saw that he, too was seeing the world in a different light.

“So,” John said slowly, staring into the dregs of his fourth coffee. “All the shit I’ve seen in horror movies is real. There are vampires and werewolves and demons and God only knows what else, running around on Earth.”

“Pretty much,” Dean nodded. “Luckily there are awesome dudes like me and Sammy here going around offing them.”

“You save a lot of people?” Cougar asked.

“Yeah,” Sam looked grimmer than Dean, John suspected he wasn’t quite as happy with the ‘job’ as his brother.

Cougar looked at his fingers, “You got any more hunts lined up around here? I don’t have to go back for another week.”

Dean raised his eyebrows. “Seriously?”

“Si.”

Cougar looked deadly serious, in John’s opinion.

The same devil which had driven him to run off and join the Air Force against his father’s expressed wishes, stirred in John again. Who said he had to go crawling back to Nancy, his tail between his legs, every time they had a fight? It wasn’t as though they had much of a good thing going on anymore. Why not grab the chance of a little excitement?

“Count me in.” He lounged back in his chair, glad he’d practiced looking relaxed so often.

“You don’t know what you’re getting into,” Sam said. “This isn’t a game.”

“Neither is sitting in foxholes and getting shot at,” Cougar said, a dangerous gleam in his eye.

“Same here,” John added, thinking of blood slicking the floor of his chopper and friends lost without a trace. “Might be good to fight something really evil for a change, too many shades of grey with people.”

“What he said.” Cougar shot John a grin.

Dean smiled. “This is going to be awesome.”

****

“You sure about this?” John leaned against his car and drew a few deep breaths.

Cougar thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah.”

John smiled wryly. “Me too. Is it screwed up that I find the idea of hunting monsters and God only knows what else, strangely appealing right now?”

“I don’t know.” Cougar looked up at the darkening sky. He wasn’t really in any position to pass judgment on what counted as ‘screwed up’, considering he had a crush on his team-mate.

Sam and Dean were both still in the diner. Dean was flirting with the waitress and Sam had vanished into the bathroom. Cougar and John had elected to wait outside for them and get some fresh air while they could.

“Kind of makes your head spin, huh?” John drawled. “Finding out about stuff like vampires and ghosts and shit, being real?”

Cougar huffed out a laugh. “You could say that.”

“To think, all this time I’ve been fighting, well, people, because I was ordered to,” John frowned. “Maybe I should’ve been fighting things like those freaks at the bar. Might have done more good.”

“Past is past,” Cougar grunted. “Don’t lose sleep over it. You’re a soldier, well, pilot. You do your job like I do mine. We don’t make the orders, we just do the dirty work.”

“True,” John agreed. He smiled suddenly. “This is more interesting than finding a motel and watching bad movies all night.”

“Your wife gonna worry about you?” Cougar asked.

“I doubt it,” John replied. “She threw a crystal vase we got as a wedding present at me as I walked out the door.”

“Shit,” Cougar said, hoping to convey manly sympathy at the unfathomable chaos which was a woman’s brain.

“Exactly,” John grinned.

They stood in silence for a few minutes, watching the sky grow darker.

“Feels like I’m in a dream.” John rubbed at a scratch on his car’s paintwork. “Keep thinking maybe I should wake up now.”

“’s’ real,” Cougar muttered.

“That’s what’s messing with my head,” John said.

“Killing some more freaks will help with that,” Dean announced cheerfully from behind them. “You ready to rock and roll?”

“Dean,” Sam winced, letting the diner door swing shut after him. “People don’t actually talk like that anymore.”

“Hey, do not screw with my mojo, little brother,” Dean pointed a warning finger at Sam. “You two ready?” He turned his sharp gaze back onto Cougar and John.

Cougar glanced at John. John nodded.

“Ready as we’ll ever be,” Cougar said firmly. “Tell us what we need to do.”

Dean grinned. “Hunter Boot Camp, this is gonna be fun. You’ll wish you were back in basic by the time we’re done with you.”

****

Cougar rode back to base when his leave was up with a strangely satisfied feeling in his gut. In the past week he and John had helped Sam and Dean on two hunts. One had been after more vampires, Cougar reckoned he was well on his way to being an expert at beheading bloodsuckers now. They’d also taken down a vengeful ghost, Cougar still shivered as he thought about it. Digging up a casket in a dark graveyard and burning the bones within to lay the ghost to rest once and for all had been...an experience.

He touched the healing bite mark on his neck and wondered what excuse he’d be able to come up with to divert people’s attention from it. Most of the guys would assume it was from an over-enthusiastic lover but that was the last thing he wanted Jake to think. The last week had given Cougar a new perspective on things and he knew it was stupid to wait for anything. From now on, if he wanted something, he knew he had to go for it, life was too short to mess around procrastinating. If he absolutely had to, he’d tell Jake the truth. Whether the kid believed him or not remained to be seen.

****

John drove back home to Nancy with a heavy heart. The past few days had been eye-opening for sure.

He still couldn’t quite get his head around the fact that things he’d previously seen in horror movies and read about in books were actually real and stalking about killing people. The fact that guys like Sam and Dean were also out there, fighting the good fight and doing their best to stay anonymous was comforting but at the same time disquieting.

Who else was a Hunter? Dean said there were plenty of them around, but they kept to themselves. Anyone John saw in the street could be running around killing monsters as a job and nobody would be any the wiser. Hunters were just people, after all. Incredibly brave and more than slightly insane, but just folk, nonetheless. Unsung heroes, John thought. Just as worthy of praise as people like Cougar and him, career military.

Cougar, now there was another guy whose waters ran deeper than people might expect. They’d only known each other a few days but John got the impression Cougar was far more passionate about his job than he’d ever let on. He didn’t say a lot but when he did speak, he was usually worth listening to. He was a good fighter, too. That second nest of vampires had been vicious buggers, but Cougar had taken to lopping off heads as though he’d been born with a machete in his hand. Maybe he had, John didn’t know, it wasn’t as though Cougar had let anything much slip about his past.

It didn’t seem likely that their paths would cross again any time soon, John expected a posting to Afghanistan to come through before too long, he’d been asking long and loudly enough for it. Maybe Cougar would find himself out there too. But John got the impression Cougar and his team often went to places and did things which nobody in their right mind would want to know about. Black ops, dirty things but necessary.

Not that Cougar had said outright that was what he did, but he had the look in his eyes John had seen in other Spec Ops guys. He was constantly on his guard, never allowing himself to relax beyond a certain point. He always checked the exits of a room as he walked into it and had a quiet but definite air of ‘I know what I’m doing, do not mess with me’ about him.

What kind of shit jobs had Cougar been on, John wondered. He smiled, he’d probably never find out. Cougar wasn’t chatty at all and he was most likely a clam as far as classified information went.

As he drove, his mind wandered. He thought of his friends, so many of them already dead and buried. Flying was a dangerous game, operational flying even more so. But it gave John the highest buzz he’d ever felt. Those hunts with Sam and Dean had given him a similar high.

All at once, John realized there was no hope for him and Nancy. If there had been a gap between them before, now there was a gulf. Knowing what he knew about just how many uphill battles the human race was facing, fighting amongst itself and against a thousand other things which seemed to have crawled straight out of Hell, he couldn’t just go and play happy families anymore.

He’d forever be thinking, wondering exactly what was on the prowl, who was likely to be bitten by a vamp, attacked by a malevolent spirit, mauled by a wendigo...he’d never settle to anything. Unless he was in the air or hunting, he’d feel like he wasn’t doing enough, like he should be out protecting someone, somewhere. Nancy already complained that he didn’t spend enough time thinking about her or their marriage. It wasn’t fair to inflict an even more absent-minded version of himself upon her.

His driveway loomed in front of him, catching him by surprise. Wow, he must have been driving on autopilot. John smiled slightly at his own bad choice of word. A pilot on autopilot, things really had come to a pretty pass.

Nancy didn’t come to meet him at the door. He found her in the living room, firmly in her chair, facing the TV, gripping her wine glass so hard the stem creaked.

“Nancy,” John said quietly, throwing his wallet down onto the sofa. “I’m sorry, I want a divorce...”

****

“They liked it.” Sam stared at Dean accusingly as Dean pulled his boots off and sank onto the bed closest to the door.

“Yeah, so?” Dean blinked at him in that way he did when he knew exactly what Sam was talking about but was determined to play dumb.

“We shouldn’t have...they’re already doing real jobs...they don’t need to carry this,” Sam said, trying to make his words match the worry in his gut. “This isn’t theirs to worry about.”

“Bullshit,” Dean said calmly. “They wanted to do it, they knew what they were getting into, we told ‘em. It’s not like we tricked them or anything, they’re the ones who wanted to come along.”

“But they _liked_ it,” Sam said again, despairing of ever convincing his brother that Cougar and John already had enough on their plates. “They’re not hunters, they’re military.”

“Best people to recruit,” Dean broke in brutally. “They can already fight, don’t need so much training.”

“We’re not recruiting an army, Dean,” Sam cried. “This isn’t a scholarship, this is...”

“What?” Dean snapped. “What exactly is it? A waste? A travesty? I’ll tell you what it is, Sammy, it’s our life. Dad’s life. The only way we can get revenge for Mom. You may not think hunting is worth giving anything up for, but I do, okay? And if guys like John and Cougar like it, well, good for them and welcome to the club. God knows, we could use some help. If they wanna come back and help out again some time I won’t turn ‘em away.”

Sam wiped a hand over his face, suddenly tired to his very bones. “It’s not a waste, you know I don’t think that. We help people, I know. But we’ve been doing this for a long time, Dean. We know what the dangers are. John and Cougar don’t. They’re just guys, they don’t need to go to sleep worrying about wendigos and spirits and curses.”

“Neither do we, Sammy,” Dean said softly. “But somebody has to. If Cougar or John come back, I’ll hunt alongside ‘em. But I won’t ask them to come, that good enough for you?”

Sam nodded, even though it wasn’t enough, not really.

“Okay,” Dean grabbed his bag and headed to the bathroom. “Get some sleep, Sam. We should get moving early tomorrow, I hear there’s another vamp nest a few miles up the road. Maybe we can catch ‘em while they’re asleep.”

Sam sighed and sat on his bed, watching the bathroom door close as Dean kicked it from the inside. Hunting wasn’t something he’d wish on anyone. Cougar and John already had lives, friends, careers, families. If they had any sense at all, they’d forget all about the madness of the past week and just go on with their lives, trying their best to block out the memories of monsters lurking in the dark.

****

As Cougar had expected, Jensen looked slightly hurt when he saw the bite mark. But he quickly schooled his face into a smirk and punched Cougar’s shoulder, very buddy-buddy.

“Hey, got a live one, huh? She pretty?”

“No,” Cougar said slowly.

“O-kay,” Jensen turned away with a confused frown.

Cougar cursed himself for a sub-verbal fool for a moment, then took a deep breath and blurted, “It’s a long story. Wanna come get a drink later and I’ll tell you?”

Jensen glanced over his shoulder, a genuine smile on his face. “Yeah, sure.”

Cougar smiled back, suddenly convinced that Jensen would believe every word he said. Dean had warned him and John not to tell anyone about what had gone on during their leave, but Jake would understand. Jake would probably want to come hunt vampires too. Cougar found he didn’t have any problem with that at all. In fact, he was positively looking forward to it.


End file.
